DECATUR - One of the state's leading agricultural economists predicted Tuesday that the debate over the cause of rising food prices soon could shift significantly.

The debate catching many consumers' attention recently has pitted food against fuel, but University of Illinois Extension expert Darrel Good expects that could change to a food and fuel vs. conservation debate.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Good told attendees at the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce's quarterly Ag Cafe luncheon.

Good said that farmers could decide to shift unused acres back into production in an effort to alleviate rising crop prices, he said.

The acres are part of the Conservation Reserve Program, which gives incentives to farmers to use certain conservation methods on hard-to-manage land. Crop acreage could be increased 34 percent by putting the idled acres back into production, he said.

However, Good said farmers are, in most cases, locked into long-term contracts and likely would be penalized should they decide to opt out of the program early.

"It's not going to be an easy move if we start to bring the land into production early," Good said.

Dalton City farmer Emmett Sefton isn't sure farmers with land in the program would opt out of it.

"A lot of the ground should never be farmed in the first place," Sefton said. "Some of it erodes badly, but I suppose we could see some of the marginal ground used."

While some of the reserve program land might not be best suited for traditional crops such as corn, it could provide the right opportunity for growing perennial grasses.

The grasses could be used to make biofuels and still provide the desired environmental benefits, said Steve John, executive director of the nonprofit research and education organization Agricultural Watershed Institute in Decatur.

"The perennial grasses could very well be compatible," John said. "These are things we're going to be dealing with for years to come. The potential is there to help with both."

Good isn't expecting any sort of major change to come in the program in the next year or two. But it could be an issue in years to come, he said.

"It's not going to go away," he said.

In the meantime, Sefton said fuel is the big culprit, and lower fuel prices would alleviate a lot of the costs and should help to reduce food prices.

"The biggest thing would be to get fuel prices down," Sefton said. "And people have to realize food is still a bargain in this country."

Chris Lusvardi can be reached at clusvardi@herald-review.com or 421-7972.